As soon as Alan entered the training grounds, he was surprised by the sheer number of people it contained. Thousands of recruits of all ages trained with a variety of weapons. The sounds of their overlapping voices and the feeling of unity as they trained together were awe-inspiring.

Alan stared at the heavily scarred Maur’s face.

"How big is the duchy's army?" he shouted, making sure his words weren’t lost in the surrounding din.

"I am not privy to those details. Her Grace will have a much better idea, so you can try asking her. Now shut up and follow me."

The instructor’s rude behavior surprised him. The attitude didn’t bother, but it did confuse him. Lost in his thoughts, he followed Maur into a room containing about a hundred people. None of them had anything in common, with members of both genders represented equally and their ages varying between 7 and 20. At five years, Alan was the youngest.

Maur shut the door, blocking the noises from outside. He measured everyone present in the room. "I am your instructor, Maur. While you are training here, you will all refer to me as sir. Some of you may not know why you are here, so let me explain. Due to your talents, the duchy decided to support you. You will be undergoing specialized training with the others.”

Most of the people became excited after hearing the news.

"The duchy will provide the resources you need to advance. I am pretty sure you are all clever enough to know these resources don't come for free. In exchange, you will have to work for the Ross family."

"For how long?" one of the older recruits asked.

"Until you become a grand knight." Maur raised his hand, stopping further questions. "Let me finish my explanation. I will clear any doubts you have afterwards. After becoming a grand knight, you have the option to continue serving the Ross family or choose another path. On the contrary, if you fail to achieve the level, you will be tying your fate to the Ross family’s for life."

Some of them frowned at the condition. “Isn’t there any way we can get out of the contract?”

“There is, but meeting those conditions is difficult. That is the last question I will answer before—”

“If you don't want to serve the Ross family forever, you should all leave. In this group, only a handful of people can become grand knights.” A burly guy shouted.

A lot of people glared at the offender in anger.

“I’m glad you have enough self-awareness to know you have zero chance. Why don’t you do everyone a favor and leave the room?” A cold voice mocked him.

Cracking his knuckles, the burly guy walked up to the girl leaning against the wall. Giving her a once-over, he sneered. “Unlike you twig, I have natural-born strength which pretty much guarantee’s my success.”

“Are you done?” Maur’s deadly voice silenced the room. He stared at the big guy till he got uncomfortable. "Did you increase your strength by consuming both food and your brain cells? I don't know if anyone ever told you this, but trust me, the brain will be more useful in the long run. Forget grand knight, having greater strength isn’t even useful in becoming a squire.”

A lot of people snickered, making the big guy shamefaced.

What's your name?"

“Jett.”

"Well Jett," —Maur walked up to him— "I remember telling everyone here to refer to me as sir. I also remember telling everyone not to interrupt me."

A grin appeared on his face. It twisted his scars, making him look hideous. “Since Jett believes that he reached the threshold, take him to testing grounds. If he fails, kick him out.”

Disregarding his protests, two soldiers dragged him out of the room. The aftermath of the small disturbance was complete silence.

“I’m glad someone volunteered to show what happens if you lack discipline. Don’t think you can be cocky because you are talented. You’re just one among the many. Any questions?”

Everyone was confused by the sudden change of track, but no one wanted to be the first one to clear their doubts.

“None?”

A young girl raised a trembling hand. “Can you explain what the knight training path involves?”

Instead of explaining, he wrote a few words in the board.

Knight Path:

Level 1: Trainee - Train body

Level 2: Squire - Generate Ki

Level 3: Knight - Project Ki

Grand Knight

“This is all you need to know for now. I will explain more about the levels after I begin the actual classes. Don’t think it’s easy to become knights. Only the top 25 amongst you can choose this path. The remaining will have to choose warriors, archers, assassins, or other classes.”

Emboldened by the instructor’s response, a lot of hands went into the air.

“What kind of benefits can we expect from the Ross family?”

“Here I was wondering what I forgot. Good question. As a trainee, recovery medicines will be provided, allowing you to train faster. At the second level, you condense Ki. After you reach it, you will be given Ki condensing potions and some basic skills for free.

“These are the benefits you are regularly entitled to. If you complete missions, you can exchange the contributions for better potions or higher tier skills. Remember that you are also getting a shortcut to interact with the upper echelon of the Duchy. If you have good commanding abilities, you can even gain a great position in the army.”

Except for a few, everyone had an excited expression on their face. Most of those present in the room came from a common background. After hearing about the benefits, they couldn’t wait to sign the contract.

Maur gave them some time to digest his words before tossing the final bait. “There is a special prize for the top five performers. It will be given to you by the Duke himself and it will greatly increase your chances of becoming a grand knight."

Looking at everyone's excited expression, Alan shook his head. No matter which world it was, benefits were the best motivators.

Maur led the students into a chamber containing a variety of equipment. It had everything from weapons to specialized chambers. Everyone eagerly perused the surroundings, wanting to start at once.

Maur’s face split into a hideous grin. “Excited?”

His expression doused everyone’s enthusiasm faster than water put out fire. It made the instructor’s grin widen.

“You’re lucky the duchy's willing to waste so much money and resources on you. If it was up to me, the training method would have been very different.”

“Is it more effective?” Someone enthusiastically asked.

“Of course!” A wistful expression appeared on his face. “I would’ve taken you to the middle of a jungle and left you there. Those who made it out would've been talent's worth nurturing. Nothing improves a person better than life and death battles!”

“What if we have trouble making it out?” A girl timidly asked.

“After a month, someone would’ve collected your bodies.” He paused with a thoughtful expression and added, “or what’s left of it.”

Alan shuddered, wondering how anyone in their right mind could make the psychopath their instructor. The others had the same thoughts and perfectly mirrored his expression. The instructor's inability to implement the method relieved them.

Maur essily guessed their thoughts. “Don’t be so happy. By the end of the month, you’ll hate everything present in the room. I’ll let you appreciate them before the training begins.”

Hearing his words, many of the trainees had second thoughts about joining the program.

Alan carefully examined the surface of a hexagonal chamber. The novel technology used by the civilization impressed him. The metal surface was etched with runes. When he touched one of them, an odd pulse passed through his fingers, and the rune shone with a bright yellow light. Channels invisible to the naked eye carried the energy to other parts of the wall.

“How did you do that?” Maur was standing behind him with a frown on his face. “It should be impossible for you to activate the chamber.”

“I don’t know,” Alan honestly answered. He couldn’t say ‘my finger tingled’ without making it sound stupid.

The instructor touched another rune, deactivating it. “Do it again.”

Alan repeated the same motion, but nothing happened. Both of them were confused by it. Maur shook it off as a malfunction, but Alan knew something happened last time. He gazed at the runes, trying to figure out how it happened and what the activation conditions were.

“Gather up!” Maur shouted.

Everyone assembled in front of him.

“I am going to explain your training schedule for the next month. In the first fifteen days, classes will be divided into body training, weapons training, and horse riding. You’ll comprehensively refine your bodies, increasing your strength, speed, stamina, and reflexes. After fifteen days, training will also include sparring. Any questions?”

Alan stared at the largest person, who was three times as tall as him. “There are people from different age groups present in the field. How is it going to be a fair fight?”

Based on pure physical characteristics, any spar Alan participated in would turn into a one-sided beatdown.

“How does it concern me? Deal with it yourself.”

Alan sputtered in outrage, unable to form any words. How the hell was he supposed to defeat his opponents when he was weaker, shorter, and had less experience.

Unfazed by his reaction, Maur continued, “Today, you'll get a taste of what the training is like.”

Alan examined the black cloth distributed to everyone. Following instructions, he wrapped it around his waist, not feeling anything different. The cloth automatically came to life, binding itself around his entire body except for the face. Shocked out of his wits, he tried to remove it, but his arms didn't budge.

Putting in more strength, he rigidly moved his arms and tried to unwrap the cloth.

Maur sneered at his futile efforts. “If you want to free yourself, you’ll have to use Ki. Before becoming a squire, you won’t be able to remove it. Your everyday lives will continue while you are wearing them.”

A lot of outraged voices echoed in the chamber. Wearing it till they became squires was insane. Many of them worked everyday to sustain themselves.

“Silence!” he barked, putting an end to the protests. “Did you think the training was going to be easy? If you want to leave, feel free to do so."

A few people hesitated, but eventually everyone decided to stay.

"No one wants to give up?" Maur asked. "This'll be your last chance."

When no one moved, his partially destroyed lips curled up. "Let me explain the best feature of the cloth.” Opening a chamber, he led them inside. It was circular with a lot of irregular surfaces. “You’ll train your reflexes in this place.”

Removing a ball from his pocket, he flicked it at the wall, barely using any strength. It rebounded back with the same amount of force and hit one of the trainee’s elbows. Clutching his arm, he let out an ear-shattering shout of pain.

The hit wasn’t too strong, so Alan found his exaggerated reaction strange. The ball didn’t stop and kept rebounding. Every person hit by it had the same reaction. He didn’t have to wait for long before understanding the reason. The impact itself was light, but the cloth amplified the pain, bringing him to his knees. Only his high pain tolerance stopped him from screaming. In his previous life, pain was his constant friend, and he learned how to deal with it.

Still, it wasn’t easy to bear.

“Learn from the midget. He is the youngest, but the only one who didn’t scream.” Maur managed to praise and insult Alan in the same sentence.

The entire time they were screaming, he appreciated the sounds with a pleased expression on his face. The torture stopped only after everyone lay on the floor, unable to even defend themselves.

Maur grinned at the unresponsive trainees. “I’m sure you’ve noticed, but the pain intensifies the more you get hit. This is one of the milder training programs. Make sure you learn quickly, or you’re going to suffer.”

Leaving everyone on the floor, he exited the chamber while laughing like a lunatic.

Alan glared at the retreating instructor, wondering when he could pummel the sadist. The sample training itself left him on the floor, writhing in pain. He couldn’t believe Maur expected them to dodge the attacks while being restricted. Whatever the other programs were, his coming month would be filled with suffering.